The Paradise Town Council made several decisions on Tuesday and delayed two more decisions until next month.

One of the decisions that was delayed was a dig once policy that the council was going to adopt, but the council decided to discuss the issue and set to prepare to make a decision next month.

In late spring, PG&E told the town at a community meeting that it had was going to put all of its utilities underground. It was an announcement that was met with a thunderous applause.

On Tuesday, Town Manager Lauren Gill told the council that staff has been working with the utilities to get them all on the same page.

“We’re not quite there,” she said. “There’s a little work to do there. There’s some negotiating and planning.”

Gill added that its best that they work in a coordinated fashion. Town Councilman Steve Crowder said that he was ready to vote for it on Tuesday but noted that he was willing to wait another 30 days to get everyone on board.

AT&T representative Alice Perez told the council that her company was never told that power poles were temporary. It was a point that Crowder disputed that saying that PG&E has been telling everyone from the start that the poles were temporary.

Mayor Jody Jones said that those pronouncements were also made at public meetings that both Comcast and AT&T were present for.

Perez said they while they don’t want to spend $32 million — a second time — to do work they’ve already done, they were never directly told them the poles were temporary.

Philip Hart, Comcast Government Affairs Director told the council that the company supported the intent of the dig once policy but that there were some issues around the sharing of cost.

Perez said cost-sharing is also an issue with PG&E.

The council also delayed the approval of Hope Plaza until month.

The council approved a zoning ordinance to outlaw railroad tie structures or retaining walls.
They also set the minimum size for a primary dwelling at 750 square feet and set a 2-year period for property owners with dwellings less than 750 square prior to the fire to submit plans to rebuild a similar-sized structure.

They also approved a requirement that manufactured homes be no more than 10 years old from date of manufacture, despite a recommendation from Planning Commission to allow only new manufactured homes.

But Acting Community Development Director Susan Hartman noted that state law didn’t allow the town to limit people to only new manufactured homes.

Council also amended a zoning ordinance that allows properties with legal non-conforming use 2 years to reconstruct their dwelling without having to go through the usual application and hearing required.

However that exemption from the hearing process won’t apply to properties in the Central Business Zone.

*They also gave direction to staff to issue a Request for Proposals (RFP) for the environmental study for the sewer project.
* Approved the defensible space ordinance presented by the Fire Chief which would prohibit any combustible material immediately adjacent to structures and allow only low-growing vegetation within 5 feet of any structure or building.